In general, lighting devices are provided in a vehicle to stably secure visibility of a driver when the level of illumination is low at the periphery of a vehicle while the vehicle runs. Among the lighting devices, a headlamp is mainly used to secure a stable visual range of the driver.
The headlamp may selectively irradiate forward a low beam and a high beam with differences in irradiation angles of light irradiated from a light source and a light amount. The process of selectively irradiating the low beam and the high beam may be performed by the driver's operation of turning a switch on and off, or may be automatically switched in accordance with a running state of the vehicle.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a lamp for a vehicle capable of selectively irradiating a low beam and a high beam using a single optical module.
Referring to FIG. 1, a lamp 10 for a vehicle includes a bulb 11 configured to serve as a light source for irradiating light, and a shield 14 configured to block a part of the light irradiated from the bulb 11 so as to produce a high beam HL or a low beam LL. Here, as the light source, a light emitting diode (LED) may be used instead of the bulb 11.
Here, the shield 14 is installed in a lamp housing so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis 12, and a solenoid 16 is connected to the shield 14 so as to rotate the shield 14.
When the solenoid 16 is operated, the shield 14 is rotated about the rotation axis 12 thereof so as to produce the high beam HL or the low beam LL. That is, when the shield 14 is vertically positioned by the solenoid 16, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a part of the light is blocked such that the low beam LL is produced. In contrast, when the shield 14 is horizontally positioned, the light is not blocked such that the high beam HL, which is irradiated more upward than the low beam LL, is produced.
However, the lamp for a vehicle, which uses the solenoid in order to rotate the shield, has a problem in that manufacturing costs are increased because the number of components is increased. There are problems in that lifespans of operating components are limited, durability deteriorates, and the overall weight of the lamp for a vehicle is increased due to the component such as the solenoid. There is a problem in that it is difficult to produce a desired optical pattern because of an operational error of the shield.